^spcilttQUS officinalis. Natural Order: Liliacece — Lily Family. 
JyZMjt F 
EOPLE in towns and cities are familiar with the vegetable 
| Asparagus as they find it in their markets, tied in bundles of 
| straight stalks without the least appearance of foliage. There 
the stalks are almost white, as gardeners cut the stems deep 
in the soil. Those having their own gardens cut them after 
^J^they are four or five inches above the ground, when they are 
green, sweet, and quite brittle. The soil should be very rich for its 
growth. It is one of the oldest of table plants, having been a favorite 
from the time of the ancient Greeks; and grows about four feet high 
into a large herbaceous bush, with leaves like so many green bristles. 
A mass at a distance looks as if the fairies had disrobed and left their 
green illusion garments behind. The flowers are small; the berries, in 
autumn, are a brilliant scarlet. 
T N poet’s lore, and sentimental story, 
It seems as ’t were this life’s supremest aim 
For heroes to achieve what men call glory, 
And die intoxicate with earth’s acclaim. 
Ah me! how little care the dead for breath 
Of vain applause that saved them not from death. 
VTET, press on! 
For it shall make you mighty among men; 
And, from the eyrie of your eagle thought, 
Ye shall look down on monarchs. O, press on! 
hor the high ones and powerful shall come 
lo do you reverence; and the beautiful 
Will know the purer language of your soul, 
And read it like a talisman of love. 
Press on! for it is godlike to unloose 
The spirit and forget yourself in thought. 
— Byron. 
— Mackellar, 
AN was mark’d 
A friend, in his creation, to himself, 
And may, with fit ambition, conceive 
The greatest blessings, and the brightest honors 
Appointed for him, if he can achieve them 
The right and noble way. —Massinger. 
TTTHO never felt the impatient throb, 
The longing of a heart that pants 
And reaches after distant good. 
—Coruper. 
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